Today is the 3rd Anniversary of the 2019 General Election ge2019.electoral-reform.org.uk As always, the parliament we ended up with looked nothing like the way we voted - this is because Westminster's voting system warps the results.

As results are announced today for councils across the country, we are already starting to see some wildly disproportionate results.

What can london learn from how Scotland runs their local elections? Read our new briefing: electoral-reform.org.uk/latest-news-an… The last batch of local elections in London saw some wild divergence between how Londoners voted and what their councils look like.

The #ElectionsBill, which passed last night, will make it harder to vote for millions, while making it easier for the government to control the Electoral Commission. It’s a travesty that parliamentarians passed a Bill that erodes our precious democracy. mirror.co.uk/news/politics/… The law will only make it harder for some people - older people can use bus passes and 60+ Oyster cards as valid forms of ID - but young people’s railcards, and student Oyster cards will not be permitted. bigissue.com/news/politics/…

The #ElectionsBill is having its second reading in the House of Lords today - there is a lot wrong with this bill, from spending millions to make it harder to vote, to reducing the independence of our Electoral Commission. Around 2.1 million people lack the necessary identification for their voter ID scheme, according to the government’s own research. Checking millions of documents and supplying ID will cost up to £180 million a decade electoral-reform.org.uk/expensive-vote…

Following the retirement of Viscount Ridley there is going to be a Conservative hereditary peer by-election. The 45 Conservative hereditary peers in the Lords will be voting to select who will get a seat in the Lords for life as his replacement. parliament.uk/globalassets/d… Candidates, drawn from a list of Conservative hereditary peers outside the Lords, submit short, often bizarre, statements such as the below to garner support.

This afternoon the Commons is debating the Government's controversial #ElectionsBill. This bill will reduce the independence of the Electoral Commission, ban those without the right ID from voting and change the electoral system for Mayors and PCCs electoral-reform.org.uk/the-government… Banning those without the right sorts of ID from voting could cost up to £180,000,000 a decade, with millions alone being spent on bigger poll cards to explain the complicated rules. Around 2.1 million people lack the necessary ID according to the government’s own research.

You can explore the proposed boundary changes here
bcereviews.org.uk We support the principle of equalising boundary sizes, but there should have been more flexibility to help seats reflect actual communities. Allowing up to 10% difference in size between seats would have helped to minimise disruption for voters and MPs.

Boundary reviews cause so much consternation with MPs as they know, with first past the post, that it is where they fall that will decide whether they win or lose their seat. thetimes.co.uk/article/4d76ba… We made this graphic a few years ago - but look how control of our fictional town council changes between the reds and the blues as the boundaries move, even though nobody changes their vote.

One year on: 9 things you need to know about the 2019 General Election electoral-reform.org.uk/9-things-you-n… 1. The Conservatives won a big majority… despite only increasing their vote share by 1.3% on 2017

Democracy in the Dark – our new report from two of the UK’s leading election finance academics Dr @KateDommett
and Dr @sampower reveals a major rise in online spending during the 2019 general election – with little transparency over how it was used.
electoral-reform.org.uk/ers-reveals-th… The £19.5 million the Conservatives raised in the six weeks leading up to the election is greater than the sum total of reported donations to all political parties in 2017 during the same period (Chart: Weekly pre-poll donations over £7,500)

Hereditary peer by-elections, ludicrous elections where there are sometimes more candidates then voters, were paused during lockdown - peers have now quietly extended the pause hansard.parliament.uk/lords/2020-09-… Lord Newby: 'Elections were postponed in May and no local council by-elections are being held. If the only election at this point was the hereditary peers by-election in the House of the Lords, it would make us look even more foolish — if that were possible — than we already do'

In the US, Black Americans and voters of color are less likely than whites to hold the required ID to vote and therefore are more burdened by voter ID laws, multiple studies have found.
businessinsider.com/voter-identifi… Rules started to come in in the mid-2010s and 2020s, with claims that such laws were justified to prevent in-person voter impersonation, a type of voter fraud that multiple comprehensive studies have found is vanishingly rare to the point of being almost non-existent.

An analysis of the many failings of the House of Lords newstatesman.com/politics/uk/20… There are some shocking stats in this report -since April 2019, one peer only spoke three times - once to suggest invading Zimbabwe and once about a particularly good breakfast. Nevertheless, he signed in 108 times out of the 113 sitting days and collected £30,361

Good news that the government has now agreed to maintain some form of remote contributions during the pandemic, following pressure from MPs, voters and campaigners

https://twitter.com/PARLYapp/status/1268565868935553025

At-risk MPs will now be able to contribute to Commons questions remotely, and clinically vulnerable MPs able to proxy vote. Welcome concessions!

NEW: @darrenhughesnz on gov't plans to scrap remote participation this AM:

“Cutting off all remote participation without provision for shielding MPs risks leaving representatives locked out, and millions of voters made voiceless" .@darrenhughesnz: "Proposals for ‘kilometre queues’ are absurd and unnecessary when digital voting has worked well. Both the Procedure Committee & opposition have put forward sensible amendments today to ensure democratic participation is protected and address major concerns"

Commons Leader Jacob Rees-Mogg will publish plans for how MPs will vote in parliament ahead of the return of MPs tomorrow.

The plan - being finalised this AM - is apparently for MPs to form a kilometer-long queue in order to vote (THREAD) If this goes ahead, it is beyond a farce. It is unacceptable when there is currently a safe, secure and speedy option for voting available: remote/digital voting. MPs have already used it, and it works

We're deeply concerned by plans to force MPs to return to Parliament next week - with only a small proportion being able to participate in debates due to social distancing

The government must not shut off virtual proceedings without a proper replacement electoral-reform.org.uk/why-the-govern… The Speaker has rightly made clear social distancing must remain in place.

That means the government must not switch off virtual contributions for MPs unable to take part. Voters will lose out and scrutiny will be weakened.

“I do think there needs to be some additional governance beyond just our company making all the decisions” Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg tells Radio 4's #WATO

The rules around political campaigning online are almost non-existent, putting democracy at risk
electoral-reform.org.uk/reining-in-the… We've identified at least 16 loopholes in electoral rules when it comes to online politics, leaving elections open to dark ads, disinformation and dodgy donations electoral-reform.org.uk/wp-content/upl…

Press release: Ministers accused of ‘dangerous inaction’ over online dark ads electoral-reform.org.uk/latest-news-an… While failing to act on the real loopholes in our electoral law, the government is pushing ahead with mandatory voter ID – despite only one proven case of impersonation fraud in the whole of 2019

"Lords look enviously at the virtual chamber of the Commons. Their own efforts at remote proceedings have been less sure-footed"

That's putting it very politely...
bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politi… Lords have largely failed at live-broadcasting proceedings, haven't sorted remote voting, and have spent huge amounts of time squablling about their expenses instead of the real issues